State of Mind

I've asked a lot of questions the past 1.8 years since Donald. J. T###p first rode the golden escalator down from his gold-plated penthouse to the paid actors in the Trump Tower lobby to announce he was going to kill us all, I mean, run for president. Let's run through some of early questions.

1. Is he serious?2. Is this some kind of joke?3. He's putting us on, right?4. He doesn't want to be president, does he?5. What the fuck?6. Can he win?7. I thought you said there is no way he could win?8. He said what?9. He acted like what?10. Who in God's creation would vote for this pig?

That was just during the GOP primary. When it became crunch time against Hillary, the questions were the same, only they were expressed from a psychological state that morphed from "mere" incredulity to full-on, five-alarm, hair-on-fire panic.

​The mere sight of Gary Johnson made me want to renounce medical marijuana forever. He has given edibles a bad name and proved weed kills. The mention of Jill Stein's name prompted hallucinogenic flashbacks that featured Stein clad in cossack garb riding horseback toward the Urals like Julie Christie in some warped remake of Dr. Zhivago. For millions of Americans, the middle of the night was Siberia, where the question "Is this really happening?" swirled in the sleepless brain like driving snow.

11. He asked the Russians to find Clinton's emails?12. Paul Manafort was paid how much by the Russians for his work in the Ukraine?13. Jill Stein and Michael Flynn attended what kind of dinner with Vladimir Putin?14. When did Trump say the IRS audit would be over and then he'd release his tax returns?15. Rudy Guiliani promised what kind of bombshell out of the FBI?16. Why did Comey release that statement about the emails right after Guiliani whose firm represents NYC FBI officers said there would be a bombshell when, after all, the allegedly bad emails from Anthony Weiner's laptop were the same emails already vetted in a look-see through other Clinton email look-sees?17. He's going to Michigan?18. She's going to Arizona?19. They aren't calling Virginia yet?20. It's over, there's no path to 270, so why are you leaving the TV on?

In fact, there have been a million questions about T$$$p, all a variation on the theme of "How the hell is this happening?" Now, however, here we are, 13 years I mean 3 weeks into the T@@@p "presidency". The questions have not only not slowed down, they have morphed into infinitely existential inquiries that promise no answer. Not now. Not any time soon. For example:

21. Why won't Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan do something, anything?

In fact, given the resignation of T@@@p's national security advisor over the T@@@p campaign's many ties to Russia, and given the ghost administration that has defied every rule and every norm, we've now got what to me seems like the most bizarre question that ever needed to be asked in America.

It's not the one they asked about Watergate that seems to be applicable here, especially since even GOP Senators are asking it: 22. What did the president know and when did he know it?

I'm pretty sure this question about T$$$p's cozy ties to Russia, or at least his part in having Flynn talk to Putin's agents, is just a rhetorical question. Of course T@@@p told Flynn to call Putin and tell him to back off retaliating for Obama's sanctions and dismissal of Russian envoys. Of course T###p is compromised and needs to be impeached. The specter of this reality is being flushed into daylight by the press and MAYBE someone with real police power makes me feel a little less insane. I suspect we are close to confirming that T###p is every bit the Narcissistic con man with a stairs issue who first rode down the escalator to start this shit show in June 2015.

LAURA VECSEY

I used to write politics, news and sports for newspapers in cities like Albany NY, Seattle, Baltimore and Harrisburg PA. Now I take a lot of Instagram photos, check Facebook, swim, read about T$$$p and cook dinner for people I really like. New York native, living in Port Washington and Greenfield Center (that's near Saratoga Springs FYI).